


An Eye for the Future

by thegirlwithtoomanyships



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: F/M, fluff????, no really tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:41:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29286198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwithtoomanyships/pseuds/thegirlwithtoomanyships
Summary: Finally, the day of Fitz’s graduation arrives, but it’s not just the future that knocks on Sophie’s door-- but the past as well. She finds out that eyes can deceive you, and not only your own, and not in the way you think they would. Sophitz.
Relationships: Sophie Foster & Fitz Vacker, Sophie Foster/Fitz Vacker





	An Eye for the Future

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is my very first try at writing fanfiction for Sophitz and I would appreciate any constructive criticism! I drew lots of inspiration from all my other ships, so you might find some references here and there. Hope you enjoy :))

_Click!_

"Can you stop that?" Fitz laughed, shaking his head as Sophie took yet another picture of him. 

"What? The golden boy, Fitzroy Avery Vacker, is graduating and I'm gonna document it for the history books of the next generations and you can't stop me." Sophie told him, clicking the button again as he adjusted his tie in the mirror. 

He rolled his eyes at her, but she knew he was teasing because his mouth was lifted in a seemingly permanent smile he had on since she saw him this morning.

"How are you feeling?" She asked and put down the camera to take his hand in hers. Fitz looked at their intertwined fingers and swung them back and forth.

"Nervous," Fitz answered truthfully. "But also really excited." 

His teal eyes landed on hers and the familiar feeling of her heart fluttering filled her chest. She smiled back at him and squeezed his hand. "I'm really proud of you, Fitz. Really, really proud." 

Fitz sighed happily and brought her hand up to press a small kiss to it. "I know. I couldn't have gotten here without you, Sophie."

Then, suddenly— a brunette girl barged into the room, her ruffled purple dress, trailing behind her. "Happy graduation, Chandelier Head!"

Biana gave her a brother a tight hug before turning to give Sophie one as well. The girl grinned when they pulled apart and she glanced down at what she was wearing. "And you! You look amazing, Sophie!"

Well, she was kind of right. Sophie picked a light red dress dotted with small diamonds that had fleece sleeves and flowed out from her waist down to her ankles. She let Vertina guide her into twisting up half her blonde hair into an updo and letting the rest fall around her shoulders. The mirror girl had also insisted she did a little more make-up today, so she put on her gold eyeliner _and_ some lip gloss. 

When Fitz opened the door to let her in, his jaw had almost dropped to the floor and he stared at her for what seemed like hours before he finally grinned wildly and kissed her. 

"You're beautiful every day, but this is just taking it to another level." He told her after they had pulled apart and her cheeks tinted nearly the same color as her gown. 

But back to the present. 

"Thanks. You look stunning, Biana!" Sophie told her friend who twirled around in her dress to show it off. “It’s very sparkly.”

Biana’s eyes twinkled as she grinned. “Right?”

A shout from downstairs caught their attention. “Kids! Time to go!”

Sophie turned to Fitz. “Ready to graduate from the most prestigious academy of the Lost Cities that’s named after glowing fungus?”

“You’re insufferable.”

* * *

Della looked like she was about to cry when she saw Sophie, Fitz, and Biana arrive downstairs. 

“Congratulations, honey.” She hugged her son tightly. “We always knew that you’d get here.”

Alden embraced Biana with the biggest smile Sophie had ever seen him wear on his face. He looked so happy that she nearly forgot how weary he was years ago.

“Sophie!” He turned to her and hugged her as well. “Thank you for coming, dear.”

“Of course! I’m glad to be here.” She assured, hugging him back.

He, then, turned to his son who straightened under his gaze. Alden gripped his shoulders and beamed even brighter. “I’m beyond proud of you, Fitz. I’m beyond proud that I can call you my son.”

The words brought a lightness to Fitz’s face and he smiled back at his father. “Thanks, Dad.” They held each other tightly and Sophie couldn’t help but smile like the last piece of a puzzle was falling into place.

“Are we all ready to go?” Fitz asked after they pulled apart, his eyes a little watery.

Biana vanished and appeared at the doorway. “Let’s get you graduated!”

Alden offered Della his arm and they both walked outside their home with Biana right alongside them. All three Vackers, dressed up to the nines and more beautiful than ever, looked _finally_ happy and _genuinely_ at peace. It brought a warm feeling to Sophie’s heart.

She felt a brush by her hand and looked over to see Fitz offering her his. She gladly took it and gave it a small squeeze. Sophie didn’t think words could express what she was feeling at the moment, so she tried to show it in her smile. 

It seemed to work because the adoration in Fitz’s smile was absolutely mind-numbing, but it caused her heart to do a tiny gymnastics routine in her chest.

“Come on, Sophitz!” Biana called, bringing a blush to her face. Fitz’s smile turned into a teasing grin and she rolled her eyes. Before he could say anything, Sophie pulled his hand and dragged him to join the rest of his family. 

* * *

“Why am I coming with you again?” Sophie asked as she followed Biana through the hallways of Foxfire, cursing as she nearly tripped on some paper.

“I have a quiz on Elementalism and forgot to get my book from my locker.” 

“Yes, but why am I coming with you again?”

“As fearless as I am,” Biana started. “I am not trudging through empty hallways of a huge, old school, probably full of hundreds of secrets, without company.”

“Okay, but why am I coming with-?”

“ _Come on_ , Sophie, we’re basically sisters!” She gushed, linking their arms together. “In a while, I’m pretty sure we’ll _actually_ be sisters.”

Sophie flushed redder than a cherry tomato at the implication, making Biana burst into laughter. “I knew that would shut you up!”

Mentally slapping herself out of it, she glared at her and pinched her arm.

“Ow! Hey! I’m just saying the truth! We’re all getting older and with Fitz graduating and all, it’s something to think about!”

“Let’s just find your stupid book and get back.” Sophie huffed, dragging her forwards.

“You know, you’re practically family! Mom and Dad love you and you’re already wearing that ring-“

“I can’t hear you!” Sophie yelled, the blush on her face somehow getting more intense. 

“Oh, my--Sophie.”

“Nope, I will not hear you tease me again. You’d think it’d be you who wouldn’t wanna bring it up, but _nope_.”

“No, Sophie-!”

“If we don’t hurry up and get your stupid book, we might miss your brother’s speech and we’ll both be-”

“SOPHIE!” Biana yelled and Sophie finally turned around to face her. “What?!”

“Look.” 

She pointed at one of the pieces of paper on the floor that Sophie had nearly tripped on.

She rolled her eyes. “If we’re late because you stopped to be sad about _littering_ , I will-“

“No.” The graveness of Biana’s voice made Sophie stop and actually look at her. Only then did she notice that her friend’s face was alarmingly pale. “Look at what’s on it.”

Sophie looked back at the paper and squinted her eyes to get a better look—

“Oh my god.”

An eye that haunted her dreams stared back at her.

The symbol of the Neverseen.

It looked slightly different, without the circle around it and looking less clean, but there could be no other explanation as to why it was there in her school. 

“How the- why the- _what_?!?” Sophie sputtered, her breath coming out in short bursts. “I thought we took them down years ago!” 

“We _thought_. They must’ve regrouped or- or- I don’t know!” Biana’s eyes were wide with panic.

They were back. The Neverseen were back. The group that had taken so much of her childhood from her was _back_ and _in her school_. 

_How could this happen?_

The familiar emotions of panic and pain and trauma of the war came crashing back onto Sophie and her knees buckled over.

“Sophie!” Biana gasped, catching her and helping her stand up again. “You need to breathe!”

Sophie managed to nod, her eyes still not focusing on their surroundings. _They were back._ _The Neverseen were back._

“There’s a trail of them. We need to find where the papers are coming from.” She heard Biana say, her teal eyes searching the hallways.

_How could they be back? Sophie had surely defeated them. They had to be gone. They couldn’t be back, no, they just couldn’t-_

“Sophie,” Biana said, gripping her shoulders and making her look at her. “I need you to focus. We have to find where they’re coming from.”

“H-how are they back? I-i-?” Her voice seemed too far away like she wasn’t even on the ground, but floating up in the air. “They can’t be- they _can’t-_ “

“Calm down. We need to look now so we can stop them if they plan on crashing the graduation.”

“Graduation.” She repeated, slowly being brought back by the familiar word. 

“Yes, Fitz’s graduation.” _Fitz!_ “Fitz could be in danger, Sophie.” 

_Fitz could be in danger._

Her consciousness dropped back into her body like a plane rapidly crashing into the ground from a million feet in the air. She needed to focus. Fitz could be in danger if she didn’t and that ‘could’ turning into a ‘would’ was something she would never let happen.

Sophie took the emotions swirling around her chest and forced them down, braiding them together in case she needed it for later.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly before looking back at Biana, her gaze hardening. “Let’s go find them.”

* * *

The two chased after the trail of papers along the corridors of Foxfire, running as fast as possible. They turned corners, crossed bridges, and climbed staircases, but the trail was taking them all the way to the other side of the campus.

Sophie’s cheeks were flushed again, but they were no longer because of Biana’s teasing. She looked over at Biana to see her just as exhausted as she was, panting heavily, but still keeping up the pace. Her glittery dress flapped around her and Sophie would have laughed, but she was way too tired.

The trail seemed to go on forever until forever stopped by the front of a closed brown door. They both stopped, catching their breath and exchanging relieved glances. Sophie reached over to turn the knob—

Something clattered inside the room. 

Then, a voice cursed.

Sophie’s eyes widened and she looked over at Biana who had the same expression. 

_Vanish and follow me when I open the door,_ Sophie transmitted to her and she nodded. Turning back to the door, she gathered every ounce of courage she had and pushed it open.

Everything seemed to happen all at once.

Sophie saw the cloaked figure, paper in their hands.

The figure saw Sophie, paper in hers.

They both stared for a second and then the cloaked figure started running away through a door to the left.

She chased after it, channeling all her energy to her feet so they could move faster. 

The figure was quick and seemed to know where they were going because they didn’t run into any dead ends. Instead, Sophie started to recognize the path they were taking.

After the last turn through another empty corridor, she was sure of where they were taking her. They were running towards the Foxfire kitchens, but the question was _why_?

But any questions were pushed out of Sophie’s head when the figure rammed into a bookshelf, causing the books to crash over her. 

“Agh!” Sophie yelped, using her telekinesis to stop them and shove them aside. The figure had gotten farther and she cursed under her breath before trying to catch up. 

Her legs felt like jelly and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep this up any longer. She just hoped Biana could catch up and take them down.

She recognized the archways they were running past and soon enough, she saw the figure running through the familiar doors of the kitchens and then— _CLANG!_

Sophie burst into the room to see Biana holding up a frying pan, the cloaked figure groaning in pain on the tiled floor. 

“H-how?” She panted, clutching her chest as she tried to regain her breath. Biana shrugged. “The first years have a tour of Foxfire and they were taking the same route. Got here early and hit ‘em in the back with this pan.”

The Vacker turned her head to the figure and glared. “Who are you?” The figure shook their head aggressively and Sophie suppressed an annoyed groan. 

She ignored her exhaustion and used the last of her energy to pry into their thoughts. 

“You don’t want us to tell the Dame about your art?” Sophie’s face scrunched up in absolute confusion.

“Why does the Neverseen care about that?!” Biana frowned as well. 

The figure stopped squirming and the person pulled back their hood for them to see— a ginger-haired boy with chubby cheeks and silvery-blue eyes. 

“What’s the Neverseen?” He asked, eyebrows raised to nearly his hairline. 

Apparently, this boy was trying to win the title of the most confusing situation Sophie’s ever been in. He was doing well because he was for sure in the top 10.

“What do you mean?! You were drawing their symbol!” She pressed, pointing at the paper in his hand.

“What?! This?!” The boy lifted the paper. “This is my art! I draw eyes!”

Biana threw the frying pan across the room, causing another loud clang that made Sophie wince. “ _What_?!?”

“The Dame saw me drawing them and then banned me, so I had to keep them hidden! I gathered them all today to hide, but then they fell out of my bag while I was walking to the hiding place and- please stop glaring, I’m very sensitive!”

The boy covered his face and turned away from Sophie. She felt the insane want to laugh at how ridiculous the situation was, but she reminded herself that it would be really inappropriate. 

“Why did you run away from me then? And why’d you push that shelf over?” She continued to demand.

The boy peeked out from his fingers. “Again, I’m _sensitive_ and I also thought you would rat me out!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, we will.” Biana rolled her eyes. “Ever think that there was a reason the Dame banned you from making that? The Neverseen’s an evil rebel group, and that’s their symbol.”

He shook his head and looked down in shame. “I’m sorry, I-i didn’t know. I just wanted to draw.”

Sophie felt her heart wrench at the boy’s words and she softened her gaze. She knew what it felt like to be clueless and make stupid mistakes. It was basically her brand. 

“Hey,” She kneeled to be on the same level. “What’s your name?”

“K-kile.” 

“Well, Kile, we forgive you,” Sophie told him, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “You didn’t know what you were doing and you seem like a nice kid. Also, you’re pretty quick.”

He brightened at the compliment and nodded his head. “I’m the quickest out of all my friends!” She chuckled, shaking her head. “I’m sure you are.”

Biana bent down beside them, thankfully, no longer glaring. “Just find another way to express your creativity. Also, don’t wear black cloaks while running away from people.”

Kile nodded aggressively. “That was stupid of me.”

“Very stupid.” Sophie agreed with a grin. “Pay attention to your classes and they’ll explain how stupid.” She straightened back up and offered him a hand.

Taking it, Kile smiled. “I’ll try. I’m not good at listening. I’m surprised I even managed to graduate to the next level.”

Graduate.

_The graduation_. 

They were so caught up in the worry of chasing down this reckless boy that they forgot about the actual reason why they were there.

“We need to get going!” Sophie exclaimed, pulling on Biana’s arm. “We might miss Fitz’s graduation!”

Biana’s eyes widened in remembrance and she nodded profusely. “Let’s go!”

“Behave yourself, Kile!” She shouted as Sophie dragged her. “Oh, and clean up those papers, for fu-“ The doors slammed shut. 

* * *

“Where were you?!” Della hissed as the two of them arrived at their seats, trying to fix their messy appearances.

“It’s a very long story about eyes, art, and a stupid boy.” Biana answered, combing through her hair.

“A stupid boy,” Edaline muttered under her breath as she picked leaves from Sophie’s dress. “Isn’t it always?”

Grady nodded in agreement to his wife’s words and Sophie tried to suppress a loud laugh, but it still came out as a tiny giggle. 

“Shh, they’re about to call for him.” Alden whispered to all of them, effectively shutting them up. 

“To begin our graduation ceremony, we proudly invite our Valedictorian to speak for his class.” The dame announced, stretching a hand to the side. “Please welcome, Fitzroy Avery Vacker!”

She would have laughed at the mention of his full name, but the pride she felt seeing him walk up to the podium was so overwhelming that all she could do was smile as wide as she could.

His eyes found hers in the crowd and they widened slightly at her slightly disheveled state. That’s when she finally let out her laugh as she shook her head dismissively.

_Everything’s fine, Fitzroy. Just focus,_ she transmitted playfully to him and he grinned back in amusement before looking back at everyone else.

She had heard his speech before many times. She’d helped him write some of it and he’d rehearsed in front of her for the past week. But when he started speaking in front of the crowd, the words felt different. They felt much more real and sincere now that he was actually addressing the class.

He was doing great, just like she knew he would. People laughed at the jokes he made and were touched by more of the solemn words he spoke. Sophie couldn’t have felt more pride in the boy standing in front of them.

“There’s also one person I’d like to thank on behalf of everyone in my class.” 

_This wasn’t part of what they’d rehearsed_ , she thought. His eyes fell onto hers and suddenly, her ability to think was tossed far away.

“We’re all here because of you and because of what you’ve done and we could not be more thankful. Thank you, Sophie. You’re brilliant.”

Sophie didn’t know what pulled on her heartstrings more: the words he was saying or the simply smitten look on his face. Sophie decided it was a tie as her heart soared and her face gleamed with a smile.

To her embarrassment, there were hoots and whoops from people in the crowd. Maybe even a few whistles. Fitz just rolled his eyes, smiling at them while Sophie’s cheeks decided to go about as red as a stoplight. 

In the rest of his speech, Fitz thanked his family, his teachers, his classmates, but the whole time his eyes always seemed to drift over to where Sophie was seated. She wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that she was the reason why since she was sitting beside the rest of his family and she was pretty sure Keefe was sitting somewhere in front of them with the rest of his classmates.

But Fitz was not helping when he met her eyes about five more times while talking and, each time, looking away and smiling a little bit brighter.

_God_ , this boy was the stupidest of them all and she was extremely glad that he was her boyfriend.

Sophie clapped loudly when he ended his speech and the Dame announced for the handing of diplomas to begin. A lot of familiar names started being called and a lot of smiling faces went up to the stage to receive their rolled-up paper tied with a ribbon. 

Keefe was by far the most entertaining. He skipped onto the stage, grabbed his diploma, stuffed it under his arm like it was a newspaper, and walked off. She had to pinch herself to stop from laughing too loudly at the horrified look of the Dame.

Finally, after calling all the other surprisingly many letters of the alphabet, they called on Fitzroy Avery Vacker for the second time. 

Fitz was grinning when he accepted his diploma and shook hands with the Dame. Sophie knew that it was one of his greatest goals, achieved, and she could practically feel the joy radiating off him.

“Look at that,” Biana muttered, a quiet smile on her face. “My big brother, all graduated. Wow. The future’s getting so much nearer.” 

Sophie felt a strong urge to swallow at Biana’s words. There it was again. _Future._

The topic had been brought up so much that day. From the obvious event of Fitz graduating to Biana’s teasing of their relationship to even the encounter with Kile that reminded her that her past was truly in the past. The Neverseen was really gone and she could live her life now. She had a _future_.

But what would that future look like? What would her job be? Where would she live? What about her and Fitz? Was he a part of her future? Was _she_ a part of _his_?

Strangely, all thoughts of the scary word disappeared from her head when Sophie’s eyes connected with the main cause of a lot of those thoughts.

They were waiting along the hall with other families for their freshly graduated children to walk out again when she felt something in the air shift. Call it cheesy, but Sophie swore it did and when she looked up, her eyes found his teal ones yet again and she couldn’t control herself as she rushed towards him. Fitz wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug and he spun her in a circle, lifting her feet off the ground.

Sophie burst into loud laughter, burrowing her head into his shoulder and hugging him even tighter. She felt his chest vibrate with his own laughs and everything immediately became so much lighter.

As he brought her back down to the ground, Fitz grinned at her like she was the most amazing thing on the planet and she couldn’t care less that people were staring at them.

_A future,_ the thought ran around her head again, but this time, it didn’t bring that same feeling of nervousness. Instead… it felt exciting. 

“You did _great_.” She beamed at him. “Have I told you already how proud I am of you?”

His eyes gleamed with amusement. “A lot, but I wouldn’t mind if you reminded me.”

A laugh floated from her chest as she swatted at him. “Congratulations, new graduate of the academy of glowing fungus.”

“Are you _really_ gonna keep bringing that up?” “As long as you still get annoyed by it.”

He rolled his eyes at her, but then seemed to remember something and raised an eyebrow. “What happened earlier? You and Biana looked like you just ran ten miles.”

Sophie snorted and waved her hand dismissively. “Very long story. Starts with the Neverseen coming back-“

“What!?” Fitz’s eyes widened, suddenly freezing.

“-ends with a kid named Kile drawing eyes for art.” She finished, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing at the relief on his face. “It’s actually pretty funny now that I think of it.”

“Well,” He took both her hands in his and grinned. “You have the entire future to tell me just exactly how those two things even connect.”

A laugh escaped her again and she squeezed his hands. “Deal.”

It didn’t quite take her their whole future to explain what happened. Actually, it was only probably half an hour, and that was with all of her friends butting in and making comments about every little detail. Her friends had never laughed harder than when she told them the Neverseen member they were chasing was just a little boy hiding his art project. Now, the teasing for _that_ she knew would easily take up a lot of her future.

But as for the rest of her future? 

Sophie smiled as she watched Fitz laugh at something one of her friends had said, his teal eyes sparkling and his grin, cheerful.

Maybe it would look a lot like that. 


End file.
